Welcome

Welcome to my blog , The Hare Illustratère. I'll be posting about my art process and journey as an illustrator/author here. To find out more about my whimsical & elegant illustrations on nifty things you can buy, please Visit my other blog, The Art Hare's Wares.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Thought I'd share my latest Christmas Card art on GCU and the 1 I'm using as my personal Christmas card. Now I'm anxiously waiting for my cards to arrive by Fedex. My address labels are ready to go -just need to buy stamps -and it looks like this year my cards will be out on time. So far it looks like Happy Holidays vs. Merry X-mess.

Wishing all Happy Holidays now in case I get get bamboozled by too much garland later.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

If you're in the NYC area and looking for affordable unique gifts please check out The Degenerate Craft Fair. A sort of anti-art-fair, The Degenerate Craft Fair features over 20 artists, designers and their work - in time for Holiday shopping - most items are less than $50.

The fair will take place in 3 separate locations over 3 weeks in December., bringing the artists and their work to very different venues: a DIY performance space, a storefront and a Chelsea art gallery.

For addresses, directions and a complete list of events go to: www.degeneratecraftfair.com For a PDF of the press release click HERE!Organised by Amy Wilson and Shannon Broder

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

This is the illustration I used for my latest postcard self-promo campaign - just sent off aproximately 220 postcards. Needless to say I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will land me a nice juicy assignment or two.

I can't believe it's already December! Yikes where did the time go? What have I been up to? I meant to be better at blogging but it seems November has gone by with nary a peep from me. Well I've been busy with CBIG - specifically the November review and getting the above postcard campaign out - not to mention the usual art biz and family/Thanksgiving stuff. So now that I've fully digested November -I guess it's time to dish.

My CBIG Portfolio reviews with 2 art directors. I'm only using initials out of respect for their privacy and because this is proprietary CBIG info. I opted to see MR from HC a giant publishing house, whose Children's division published infant to YA books and RP from SP, a mid sized publisher whose juvenile division only published picture books. In general the reviews went well - both liked my animals. I also showed 2 dummies but as art only.

MR/HC: wanted to see more angles, varied perspective, view points etc. I sat opposite her as she reviewed my portfolio and as I viewed my work upside down - this flaw was obvious to me. Note to self - look at my portfolio upside down more frequently. Luckily for me 1 of my recent dummies demonstrated the varied persoectives and viewpoints she craved - whew. She also wanted me to create more oomph, drama with my illustrations. Yes - she liked my latest Bear series (the above is 1 of 3 new bear illustrations) YAY they were worth working on late into the night!

RP/SP: liked my animals a lot as well as my dummies. Unfortunately it is just a matter of everything aligning: right story/right art/right time. She also liked my B&W work and some of my book cover samples in my portfolio - she thought this might be something I could develop further. Her company is only doing picture books but many other publishing houses have middle grade & YA dept (and mid-grade/YA market is doing very well right now - maybe more opportunities).

Yup - got some work to do. Make sure my portfolio reflects the fact that I do different perspectives and view points, shows narrative, drama, etc. Create more Jacket & interior spot art to go after the mid grade/YA market. Lastly, write a wonderful picture book manuscript for my animals so next year I can show a dummy as both art and story.